Movie posters: Good and bad

Inspired by Drtooth's post on "Am I the only one..." thread about Polish movie posters, I've decided to create a thread about movie posters in general.

Like Drtooth, I really like the hand-drawn/painted posters like the Muppet movies up until From Space, along with the Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies, which truly are a lost work of art. Two of the few modern examples are Wet Hot American Summer (a tribute to '80s camp films, so the style makes sense) and Grandma's Boy (which is especially sad). Minimalist posters, usually teaser posters, are also a win in my book.

Some of the worst poster designs are of floating heads of celebrities, having the lead character in an animated movie be given a smug grin on his face when it isn't usually doesn't fit with his personality (Dreamworks being the worst offender, hence the nickname "Dreamworks Face"), or using a stupid and very obvious pun for a tagline (the majority of kids' films today).

using a stupid and very obvious pun for a tagline (the majority of kids' films today).

Click to expand...

That's most movie posters period.

I will say I'm having a bias with the Wreck it Ralph posters. They may be stock CGI poses, but they do have Sonic and Street Fighter characters on them.

But I agree completely. I miss the drawn and painted posters they used to have. They're just as good, if not better, than something you'd find at an art museum. I really can't get too excited about any current movie poster. Photo shoots, photoshops... there's nothing too interesting. I like the Get Smart posters where either 86 or 99 are blocking each other some how (99's hair, Max's tie), but that's about it.

But my least favorite would be the Toy Story 3/The Muppets "Pokemon" poster, that's just a pile of characters piled on top of each other. Pixar can still make some pretty good CGI composite posters, but the TS3 one where they're just bragging about how many collectible Pokemon there are was just lame.